Push Santa In The Water and Say "cheese!"

Now, that's a nice gift for your kids, if you have a pool in your backyard or a planned snorkeling trip on your Christmas vacation.

Liquid Image has built a digital underwater camera into an ordinary plastic swimming mask. The camera looks affordable (in a cheap way), but when it comes to its capabilities, it seems to have what it takes to record underwater photos and videos, completely hands-free. The cam is equipped with LED lights within the viewing area to indicate the mode the camera is.

It also gives the user the possibility to download the digital images and video content to the PC or laptop via the USB port. In addition, the waterproof Liquid Image Digital Underwater Camera Mask comes packed with 16MB of memory. Since this won't be enough, you can also use the microSD slot for an additional storage space. The camera can be submerged underwater up to only 15 feet (5 meters), so I guess shark hunting is out of the question. It's enough to compare it to other devices like the Sea Life D600 digital, water resistant to 60 meters depth, to see that it's pretty limited in this regard. However, don't expect any miracles in terms of image quality since both gizmos have tiny imaging sensors.

When you're back on land, just take the camera out of its swimming mask housing, and you'll be ready to catch some great (well not that great ) beach volleyball action or sunsets. And to whom it may concern, the Liquid Image device will be available in both 3.1 and 5.0 megapixel resolutions. There is no word on how many batteries it needs.

However, if you want one, you should know that this digital camera mask features a suggested retail price of around 99 bucks. The company plans to show this at 2008 CES show in January.

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